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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26051446">Prayer Circle 17</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArwenLune/pseuds/Primarybufferpanel'>Primarybufferpanel (ArwenLune)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Kamino (Star Wars), Podfic Welcome, Star Wars AU - Soft Wars, clone training</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:08:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>928</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26051446</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArwenLune/pseuds/Primarybufferpanel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When the squad you're training includes Cody, Ponds, Bly, Wolffe and the mouthy little vod'ika they're determined to adopt, sometimes you just need some backup from a fellow Alpha, okay?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>248</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Open Source Soft Wars</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Prayer Circle 17</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Project0506/gifts">Project0506</a>.</li>


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23849185">In The Beginning</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Project0506/pseuds/Project0506">Project0506</a>.
        </li>
        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26039464">I Didn't Pour The Gasoline (Just Lit The Sparkler And Ran)</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Project0506/pseuds/Project0506">Project0506</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Set in the Soft Wars universe, which is amazing. I don't think this makes much sense without that.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><span class="u">Private message</span> Alpha 17: <em>come have a beer in the Alpha mess.</em></p><p>The Kaminoans had provided the Alphas with a small messroom of their own, a space for doing paperwork, discussing cadets, and sometimes at night, relax and have a beer.</p><p>Not usually on Taungsday though. Alpha 6 frowned down at his comms. 'Have a beer' could be code for 'there's an issue and I need to keep it quiet'. The longnecks monitored comms, so some things were better discussed face to face, especially if there was a cadet that needed help. Wouldn't be the first time that some discrete rec time lessons pushed a wobbly cadet toward benchmarks.</p><p>And there <em>had</em> been something up today in the barracks. Not with Edee squad itself, but something that had the boys whispering and elbowing eachother. Six could generally trust his cadets to judge if it was something he needed to know. Colt and Gree were both sensible that way. Perhaps that judgement hadn't been so sound this time.</p><p><span class="u">Private message:</span> Alpha 6: <em>coming</em></p><p>Seventeen was already there, slumped into one of the uncomfortable seats the longnecks had provided, a bottle of the weak beer in one hand.</p><p>"So." Six said after Seventeen had emptied his beer in silent thought. "You gonna tell me what's got you making that face? Your squad's doing okay, isn't it?"</p><p>"Huh? Oh yeah, meeting all the benchmarks. Exceeding them even."</p><p>"So? Longnecks call you property again? Somebody slice your holoporn and replace it with Wookie scenes?"</p><p>"You know who CT-7567 is? Blonde kid, third cycle. Been hanging around with my lot."</p><p>"I've seen him."</p><p>"They've adopted him."</p><p>"...so?" it wasn't unusual for older cycle cadets to mentor younger brothers. The longnecks weren't fond of that kind of fraternisation, but Six privately thought the social bonding was usually good for both sides. It definitely wasn't bad for his command cadets to feel invested in the training standards of the men they would be commanding.</p><p>"Adopted as in, named him, moved him into their dorm and insisted he's staying."</p><p>"...ah." Six hid his grin behind his beer bottle. Trust Shebs Squad to push the limits.</p><p>"Actually, they didn't insist he's staying," Seventeen said, incredulity colouring his voice. "Cody just looked me dead in the eye and claimed the kid had always been there." He went to take a swig of his beer, realised it was empty, and shook his head ruefully. "Dead in the eye. The sheer beskar <em>balls</em> on that cadet."</p><p>"You were the one that said you wanted the squad with the highest marks for creative and independent thought."</p><p>"Shut the kriff up," Seventeen sighed without heat. "And the kid—they've called him Rex— played right along. Had the karking gall to ask if I was okay. If <em>I</em> was okay!"</p><p>Six chuckled quietly.</p><p>"What are you going to do?"</p><p>"Fucked if I know. The longnecks won't like it. Fuck, <em>I</em> don't like it. He's <em>small</em>, Six. He'll keep up with the range scores and they'll make sure he'll catch up with the course work, but I can't load him up with 40 kilo of kit and send him on a march with the rest of them, can I? How can he keep up with hand to hand for cadets fifteen kilos heavier? Should he even be doing cycle four trials?"</p><p>"Probably not," Six agreed. Both their squads were going to come to the exhaustion trials of their training before long. A third cycle cadet had no business going through those; that was a recipe for injury and developmental harm.</p><p>On the other hand…</p><p>"I hear Priest's been watching the kid too," Six said, carefully neutral. He took another swig of his beer.</p><p>"Yeah," Seventeen said heavily. "He stands out, draws that kind of attention. And he's alone."</p><p>Priest was a sore spot.</p><p>Six had let Priest have one of his Edees, back when he thought it was an honour. Back when he thought it was a compliment to his squad. And Neyo had certainly been doing cycle four trials at 7567's age. Six knew he was supposed to be pleased with Neyo's training progress; he was excelling in all the ways the longnecks and trainers valued. But having known Neyo since second cycle, it was hard not to feel uncomfortable with the personality changes.</p><p>"I'll go to the longnecks with you," he offered, more casual than he felt. "He <em>is </em>keeping up with your Shebse, for the most part. Call it an experiment on the limits of CT potential."</p><p>Seventeen hummed thoughtfully.</p><p>"Eleven has cycle three CCs. D'you think he'd take Rex for hand to hand, some of the stuff I won't let him do with my lot yet?"</p><p>Six laughed. "For a crate of beer and the chance to stick it to Priest? You bet."</p><p>It could work. Even if Rex would need to do some of the cycle four stuff a second time to get fairly graded for it, by then he'd be too old for Priest to be interested. The Shebse might not like letting their vod'ika out of sight, but—</p><p>"And if there's trials you can't bring him for, Edee will take him for the duration."</p><p>If Colt hadn't already begun to act protective of the kid, Six would be downright shocked. Their squads were close.</p><p>Seventeen opened two new bottles of beer and handed one to Six.</p><p>He was silent for a few long, thoughtful moments. Then he clanked his beer bottle against Six's.</p><p>"All right. To giving the longnecks a headache. And kark Priest."</p><p>Six chuckled.</p><p>"Oya!"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Shebs: ass, asshole<br/>Edee: jaws</p></blockquote></div></div>
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